The Folsom City Council meeting agenda item #10 was to give the recommendation to the Sacramento-Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority (SPTC-JPA) This will help direct the JPTC-JPA on how to craft the operating license. The Folsom City Council voted 5 – 0 to support PSVRR and directed staff to work with us to resolve the crossings and track issues. We still have some hurdles with the Capital SouthEast Connector JPA. But we are very confident that we can work with the City and County of Sacramento to work out all issues.
Before a near-full City Hall chambers, members of the Folsom City Council unanimously voted to recommend an operating license renewal of a seven year term to the PSVRR. The renewal is ultimately issued by the Sacramento Placerville Transportation Corridor Joint Powers Authority (JPA), which included the City of Folsom, Sacramento County, El Dorado County and Sacramento Regional Transit.
The PSVRR rail excursions for the public take place on portions of the historic Southern Pacific Railroad’s “Placerville Branch.” The segment is described by the PSVRR as, “a scenic gem that has wound through Sacramento and El Dorado Counties for over 160 years.” The excursions are in addition to a number of shorter rail events that take place in the heart of the city as well, such as the annual Pumpkin Patch Flyer train, Santa’s Whistle Stop, and others, all of which are operational fundraisers for the 501 (c)3 non-profit organization. The shorter events are not subject to the operating license that was in question recently, but are not events in which the organization can operate on alone when it comes fundraising and finances in order to continue being self-sustained as they have been.
If you would like to watch the Folsom City Council meeting you can see it here and fast forward to item 10 on the agenda it is 1 hour 10 minutes into the meeting or click on the agenda below the video.
Where do we go from here?
We will work with the City of Folsom Staff, Connector staff, FRA and CPUC to work out the crossing issue. PSVRR has a history of solving these issue with no costs to the City and will continue to offer solutions. We will start operation of the full size train in the spring once we repair track damage for winter storms. We will also bring out the steam locomotive for the first time for public rides.